Save Money & Save Energy

We all have causes dear to our hearts and one of mine has been low energy lightbulbs. Knowing that most people will say they want to save the environment but they are not so keen to take action when it costs them money. I’ve concentrated on promoting the financial benefits rather than the fact that a low energy lightbulb can save an incredible 450 Kg to 900 Kg of CO2 per bulb.

I’ve detailed the cost benefits in my article New Light Bulbs Will Save You Money but swapping to energy efficient bulbs has been difficult for some people who have special requirements. Special shapes of bulbs that were only available as old-fashioned, wasteful incandescent bulbs are now available in energy saving bulbs so that reason has been squashed.

One problem with low-energy lightbulbs has been that you could not use them with dimmer switches. Many people believe that dimmer switches actually saved energy but in fact they save very little if anything. A half power 100 watt bulb is still using 50 watts. The good news is that you can now get a low energy lightbulb that you can use with a dimmer switch.

They’re available from Nigel’s Eco Store – here
Nigel’s full range of energy saving bulbs are here.

You can read my article on saving money (see link above) or do the calculations on the cost benefit yourself.

Existing Cost Based on 1,000 hour incandescent light bulb

Cost of Bulb x 8
Wattage times 8000 divided by 1000 to give Kilowatt Hours
Kilowatt Hours times cost per unit of electricity (KWH) = Total Electricity Cost
Add Total Electricity Cost to Bulb Cost

Now do the electricity calculation again for your low energy bulb and add the bulb cost – compare the two.

Here’s an example based on an ordinary 100 watt bulb:

Cost of incandescent bulbs = 25p times 8 = £2.00
100 watts times 8,000 divided by 1,000 = 800 KWH
800 KWH times 10p = £80.00
Total cost = £82.00

Low Energy Bulb use 20 watts for the same light but only costs £1.00 or even less you are looking at one fifth of the electricity plus a pound = £17.00

Just do the figures for yourself and you will be amazed at how much money you have wasted.